Happy Halloween Jade
by Quitting Time
Summary: Jade doesn't think Tori can be scary. A chance to help with the Hollywood Arts Haunted house, gives Tori a chance to prove her girlfriend wrong. But will she go too far... A Jori Story. Based on an idea from Invader Johnny
1. Give it your best shot

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 1 – Give it your best shot.**

**Credit for the original idea goes to Invader Johnny.**

**Tori's POV**

It was, right after school on the 1st of October and on this particular Thursday, the gang, myself and several other students, plus Sikowitz were sitting in the black box theatre, planning the annual Hollywood Arts, haunted house.

Sitting next to Jade, I watched as Sikowitz, stood up and took a drink from his coconut. "Now, children. I want this year's haunted house to be a success. As you know, each year, we put on a haunted house for charity, using our skills and talents. This year, we are going to try to raise $300 dollars for the Wells Street, Food pantry, which has served needy families, since the 1960's. Its modest amount, but I think we can do it. "

At this point, Andre raised his hand.

"Yes Andre"

"I know they will hold it here, but what will the layout be? Same as last year?"

"Mostly, they will enter through the side door, wind through several interconnected class rooms and hallways, then they will exit onto the asphalt café. I have the route, approved by Principal Helen, played out on this map, which I will hand out to you now. She didn't want to use the upper level this year, as in the dark, there was too much of a chance for people to fall on the stairs and hurt themselves."

As Sikowiitz handed out the maps, he said. "Now we need some good ideas, to make this really scary. Who's got one?"

Right away there were a number of suggestions. Though, as in previous years, Jade took the lead in suggesting ideas for the haunted house. Helping to plan the annual haunted house was one of Jade's favorite school activities. She'd been talking about it for weeks.

However this year, her ideas quickly fell flat, mostly because they were just rehashed, recycled and in some cases, simply lacking in imagination. Even the easily impressed Cat, was not impressed. Now that I think about it, Jade's mostly been talking about how good her ideas from previous years were.

"Jade, we did a scissoring themed room, last year and the year before that. How about one centered around the Halloween Movies" Said Cat.

"Oooh. I like that idea. We can have our own Michael Meyers" I replied

My suggestion was quickly met with a harsh glare from my girlfriend. "You're not helping, Vega! You're supposed to support my ideas."

I briefly huffed with anger, then quickly composed myself. "I am helping Jade. By being honest with my girlfriend. I'm sorry, but these ideas just not up to your standards. You can do better; I know you can."

Jade briefly fumed for a moment, then began to pout slightly, as Sikowitz moved on to hearing another student's idea.

After a few minutes, while listening to the others, an idea came to me, I raised hand for the first time. "I have an idea."

Jade, quickly looked at me and replied what sounded somewhat condescending. "Tori, I'm sorry but you're just not that scary. You can help make mine. I have a good idea, now."

"Let's hear your idea, Tori?" Replied Sikowtiz.

I tried to support Jade earlier, by saying she could do better, and here she turns around and essentially embarrasses me in front of everyone. Suddenly I felt too self-conscious to tell them my idea. "Never mind."

The meeting concluded a short while later, with most of the haunted house planned out. However, another planning meeting was scheduled for the following Monday, to finalize the plans. As the meeting broke up, Jade smiled and looked at me.

"Wanna go to Nozu and get something to eat?"

Feeling rather stung by Jade's dismissive attitude and her embarrassing me, I thought for a moment. "No, I have some homework I want to finish up. I'll call you tomorrow, " The homework wasn't urgent and I was planning on doing it the next night, but Jade's being an asshole, so she can eat alone.

"Ok, Later Vega"

A short time later I was driving home and the more I thought of it, the angrier I got. She just blew my idea off and made me look stupid. She's supposed to care for me, but she certainly didn't act like it. By the time she arrived home, I was fuming mad.

"So you don't think I'm scary, miss Know it all Goth, and you think it's fun to make me look like stupid. Well you're pissed off girlfriend is going to show you scary. "I ranted as I got out of the car. I was now determined to scare the ever living fuck out of her and shut her up for good about whether or not I can be scary.

Back in my room, I lay on my bed thinking of how to really get Jade. My idea earlier was a zombie room. But Jade likes zombies, so that wouldn't work.

After getting more frustrated, as no really good ideas came to me, I sat and did my homework. I was curious to see if Jade would call, but she didn't. After an hour or so, I finished my homework and sat to watch TV. It was a short while later, just watching the tube, the idea came to me.

"Of course." I said out loud. "That's it."

I quickly moved to my desk and started to get it on paper. Once I had my basic idea, I ran into the basement, to see if I had any of the needed things. Sure enough, what I had in mind was tucked away in the corner of the basement.

By the time I went to bed, I had most of it planned out. It could work, only I needed a few more things and some help.

The next morning, I got to school early and found Sikowitz at his desk. I proposed my idea, and even showed him my plans.

After studying the plans intently for a moment, he took a long sip from his coconut.

"Interesting. I like it."

"You'll let me, then?" I said eagerly.

"Yes."

"I can get some help, making it, Robbie, Beck or Andre, but I don't want Jade to see it, until it's done."

He nodded. "Because she so rudely dismissed your idea last night."

"Yes."

"Done. You can have dance practice room 2, that's at the end of the tour. Should be perfect. Please keep me posted as to your progress and please be careful."

"Yes, I will, thank you."

With that, I headed out and found Jade at my locker. I was still angry with her but I acted like nothing was wrong.

"Where were you? You're usually at your locker by now?" She quizzed me as she gave me a soft kiss.

"Talking to Sikowitz about my room in the haunted house."

Jade raised an eyebrow and for a moment, looked as if she was going to laugh at me. "You're room?"

"My room." I replied with a wry smile.

"Care to tell me about it."

"No"

Jade briefly frowned. "why?"

"If I tell you about ahead of time, then it won't scare you, won't it."

"You think you can scare me?"

"I'm giving it a shot."

Jade kissed me again. "Give it your best shot Vega. If you do a good job, I may even act a bit scared. Gotta get to class. Love ya…later."

As she walked away, I hissed under my breath. "Condescending bitch….."

Later in the morning, I asked Beck and Robbie's help. Both were fascinated by the idea and were eager to help me with the project.

Over the next couple of weeks, I set about getting things ready at feverish pace. My efforts included checking some books from the library, searching both resale, electronic and junk stores, assembly and a ton of other things. I had some cash set aside for a new pearpod, but I decided to forgo that, for this particular project.

Jade, though she didn't speak of it, I could tell she remained very skeptical and rather amused by my efforts to scare her. She didn't even pick up on the fact that I was still rather angry with her, which only spurred me on further. To be honest, I really didn't feel like spending a whole lot of time with her and more than once I chose to work on my project, instead of spending time with her. She was busy with her room, but not as much as mine.

Finally, I had everything ready and the guys and I even had a test run in my parent's garage. It worked perfectly.

Finally, it was Thursday, October 29th and everyone was setting up the haunted house. School was out for a teacher's convention on both the 29th and 30th, so it was ok, to set up the haunted house, the night before it was to open.

I spent the day with the guys, in my assigned room and finally I was ready. I was beyond eager to see Jade's face. I know Jade had her own room, but at the moment all I was thinking about was mine.

I told the guys to let Sikowitz know, that I was ready.

The night before the haunted house opens, the various people who helped make the room, all take turns going through it, seeing how all the other rooms look in comparison to theirs. In previous years, there has been an actual competition, to have the scariest room. Jade won 2 years in a row, before they stopped doing it.

**No One's POV**

Jade stood outside the main doors to Hollywood arts looking rather impatient. She took a moment to survey the sign that said "Hollywood, Arts, Haunted Mansion" and the other lights and other scary bits that had been put up.

"I hear it's good." Said Andre who was waiting as well.

Jade had simply rolled her eyes and said nothing.

A moment later, Sikowitz poked his head out. "Ok, Jade, Andre you can go through now."

"This had better be good" Replied Jade as she entered the haunted house.

So, Jade and Andre entered the house."

It was a typical haunted house, dimly lit, with sounds of screams and what sounded like tortured souls. They wound their way into the first room which was an evil clown room with 3 evil and rather menacing looking clowns inhabiting a rather disturbing circus. Jade simply smirked and criticized their makeup as looking too tame.

They proceeded further into the haunted house along a marked path, dodging cobwebs and other students who looking like ghouls, jumped from hiding places to scare patrons as they walked by. Andre was impressed by the effort, but he could Jade was not.

They passed through Jade's room, which unlike the past was Scissoring themed, was a based on the movie, "The Ring" and its sequels. Cat was portraying Samara the evil spirit from the well. Andre could tell Andre was pleased with her effort, but Jade thought it was Average.

Finally they got to the final room, which was Tori's room.

"This ought to be good." Said Jade dismissively.

The final door, had a sign, which read, in what looked like dripping blood, "Welcome to Dr. Dissection's laboratory."

Entering the room, they followed the path which ran along very edge of the room.

The other side, of the room, which was eerily lit, was made out to be a mad scientist's laboratory. In fact, it looked like it was straight out of some 1931's Frankenstein. There were test tubes, odd things in glass jars, half dissected corpses and various electronic gizmos that gave off a strange light.

Jade could tell that Tori had put a lot of work into the look of the room and quietly nodded in approval.

In front of them was a cloth covered table, with what appeared to be head with a half-exposed skull on it. Jade smirked to see it was Beck in make-up.

But in the center of the room, just a few feet past the table is what Jade immediately focused on.

Rising from the smoke and dim light was an operating table. Firmly strapped to the table was Tori, who was wearing a blond wig. She was crying for help as she didn't want to end up an experiment.

"Help me! Please. He's mad!"

But directly above the table was what appeared to be a large metal arm that extended from what appeared to be a fake wall. But at the end of the arm, was a very real, gleaming silver, circular saw blade.

Just then, Robbie jumped from the shadows, wearing a bloodstained lab coat and white wig, jumped out.

"Now, it is time to begin the dissection" Said Robbie, in a rather bad sounding Eastern European accent.

Robbie pulled out a remote from his pocket and hit a button.

Suddenly saw blade began to spin with a near deafening sound. A second later, the arm itself, slowly began to lower towards Tori.

Jade who had been watching with a somewhat critical eye, nodded with some admiration. "A real blade and an arm that goes down. Impressive."

Her arms crossed, Jade watched as the blade came closer and closer down to Tori's chest. As it lowered, Jade could Tori' screams become more and more fearful. All the while, Robbie was cackling with evil laughter.

For a moment as the buzzing blade lowered, Jade felt a twinge of nervousness.

Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and the both the arm and blade stopped moving. Jade noted the blade has stopped about 2 inches from Tori's chest.

"Curses, the blade has stopped" Ranted Robbie, in his ridiculous accent.

He then turned to Jade. "Perhaps it would work with you"

Jade then clapped. "Not bad Vega!" replied Jade loudly. "I'll give you an A for effort. I do like the real blade."

"I tried Jade. We're you scared."

"No" Came Jade's rather blunt reply.

At this point Robbie was fiddling with the remote, looking somewhat perplexed. "Tori, I hit the button but. It's not going back up to the starting point."

"Robbie. Hit it again. You probably didn't push it hard enough."

Beck then turned his head to look at Robbie. "Just give it a wack."

Jade simply laughed. "Now I'm scared Vega. Scared that I won't get my 2 bucks back. Your thing doesn't even work."

Robbie gently hit the side of the remote and then pressed the button. Instantly the blade started again to spin.

"Got it." Said Robbie with relief.

Suddenly there was a loud but audible "Pop" that came from the fake wall, where the base of the arm was connected.

For a brief second, both Robbie and Tori, looked at each other with confusion.

Jade watched helplessly as the, the spinning blade, instead of going up, suddenly and rather quickly lurched down right at Tori's chest.

Looking at Tori, Jade could see a look of absolute terror, forming on her face as she began to scream.

It took only a second, but the blade made contact with the flesh, with a sickening shredding sound.

"Oh God!" said Robbie.

In front of everyone's eyes the blade rapidly and efficiently dug further and further into Tori's chest cavity.

Jade stood there, paralyzed and in utter shock, half obvious to the fact that she had gotten sprayed with some of the blood,

"TORI!" shrieked Jade, as she turned began to shake uncontrollably.

The blade took only few more moments to complete its job, only stopping with it had cut through her back and begun to dig into the metal table she was on. Coming to a halt, the blade, now covered in blood, was actually sticking out from the bottom of the table.

Having just watched her girlfriend, eviscerated before her very eyes, Jade, feeling almost numb from the fear, shock and horror, looked down to the bottom of the table as the crimson sawblade dripped blood on to the floor. She then turned to look at Tori's face. Her eyes were closed, almost as if she was peacefully asleep. But that peaceful image was quickly shattered by the fact that a steady stream of blood seemed to be escaping her mouth.

Taking another step back, Jade began to scream uncontrollably along with a stream of nonsensical words.

Finally, Jade let out one ear bursting scream and promptly fainted on the spot.

**I'm back, I wanted to give thanks to Invader Johnny for this wonderful idea. It's been a while since I've written anything, but I've been going through some stuff, plus I haven't had too many ideas. I hope you like this.**


	2. Liebestod

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 2 – Liebestod**

**Credit for the original idea goes to Invader Johnny.**

**Author's note:** **I had some problems with the version that was posted initially. For some odd reason, parts of sentences were missing. My deepest apologies. It should be fixed now. **

**No One's Pov**

As Jade came slowly back to consciousness, she realized she was lying on a couch of some kind.

It took only an instant to remember. As soon as she did, the whole terrible experience came flashing back to her.

"Oh God!" moaned Jade as she opened her eyes, to see Cat sitting in a chair next to couch. Jade realized she was in Hollywood Art's health room.

"You fainted Jade. We took you to the health room. It all must have been a bit too much. I take it was really scary?"

"What kind of question is that!" Jade quickly snapped, looking as if she was on the verge of tears."Tori is dead! Who cares if it's was scary! Is that all you care about?"

Instead of answering, Cat turned her head to someone who by the sound of it, had just entered the room behind her. "It was scary alright."

Filled with equal parts anger and grief, Jade turned to the unseen figure standing in the doorway.

It was Tori, looking very much alive and with a rather mischievous smirk on her face.

"BOO!" Said Tori, as she casually strolled into the room."I wanted to be here when you woke up, but I had to pee. Sorry."

Leaping off the couch, Jade stared at Tori, in a near complete state of shock. Seeing Tori sliced in half before her very eyes, was too much to start with, but seeing her very much alive, pushed Jade's emotions and sanity to their limits.

Convinced this was a hallucination, Jade ran up and felt Tori's chest and torso. She was looking for some sign of the gaping wound she had seen. She even reached under Tori's shirt to feel the flesh itself.

Tori quickly giggled. "My you're a bit frisky. I should scare you more often. I did scare you, did I?"

"You're…."

'Dead? Do I look dead?"

"NO! I saw you sliced in half, I saw you die!" ranted a barely composed Jade.

"Special effects, smoke and mirrors and a little bit of ingenuity. You saw exactly what I wanted you to see. Were you scared?" Tori asked almost expectantly.

"OF COURSE I WAS!"

Tori knew Jade was angry, but remained calm. "Well you told me to give it my best shot."

At this point Jade's pale complexion turned red, as she abruptly exploded.

"GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT,YOU SHOT STRAIGHT THROUGH SCARY, JUMPED ACROSS HORRIFYING, ZIPPED RIGHT PAST TRAUMATIZING AND ENDED UP IN SCARRED EMOTIONALLY FOR LIFE!"

"Well…." Tori started to speak before Jade cut her off, with yet another scream.

"NO, I'M WRONG, THAT WASN'T SCARY, THAT WAS UTTERLY FUCKING SADISTIC.I'M SURPRISED PINHEAD FROM THE HELLRAISER UNIVERSE HASN'T SHOWN UP, GIVEN YOU A SLAP ON THE BACK AND SAID DAMN GIRL THAT WAS WICKED, I WANT YOU ON MY TEAM!"

Realizing she may have pushed things too far, Tori started to apologize. "Jade, I just really wanted to give you a scare. I'm sor…"

Jade, starting to have a full emotional meltdown, went into full attack mode, cutting Tori off once again.

"I THOUGHT I LOST YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!"

For another 30 seconds, Jade continued to scream at Tori, eventually starting to simply curse her out, calling her a number of names, including insensitive bitch. As Jade continued the rant on, she was oblivious to the fact that Tori's expression, had slowly turned to stone.

Jade finally finished with, "I though you fucking loved me!"

Tori stood there for a full 10 seconds, as a deathly silence filled the air. Finally, responding in a voice so cold and hard, it would make an Eskimo shiver, Tori said.

_"Go to hell!"_

The next thing Jade came aware of, was Tori slamming the door shut as she left the room.

Jade stood there for a minute, half stunned by what had just happened.

"You know she did go too far" Said Cat, with a rather serious expression, "But that aside, you said earlier you thought you lost Tori. I think you just did."

Without another word, Cat shook her head and quietly left the room.

Jade stood there, shocked, as it all sank in. Far too much had happened so fast and now it was over, very over.

Numbly, she grabbed her purse off a nearby table and mechanically walked to the very same one that Tori had walked out of the room and possibly her life only a few moments earlier. Tori was nowhere in sight. Just then Sikowitz came around the corner.

"Jade are you ok?"

Pausing for a second, Jade shook her head then resumed slowly walking towards the exit. He said something else after that, but Jade wasn't listening, nor did she care.

She found her way to her car and drove. The entire time, she didn't cry, she didn't scream, she didn't even talk or listen to the radio. She felt so broken, so lost, so betrayed, so abandoned, she barely could process it. She half felt that Tori faked her death to purposely inflict pain.

Alone in her room, Jade checked to see if there were any messages from Tori: there were none. As Jade sat on her bed, Tori's final words to her kept ringing through her head.

_"Go to hell!" _

Though in Jade's mind, she juxtaposed it with the image of her so graphically sliced in half. Though Jade knew it was all fake, the shock and horror of it had not worn off.

Turning on her pearpod, she put on Opera, which was what she listened to when she was by now her depression was rapidly setting in.

She put on one of her most favorite songs for this type of mood, Liebestod, from the Opera, Tristan and Isolde by Wagner. The opera itself was about a forbidden love between a knight and woman who was destined to marry a King. The song Liebestod was the final song in that opera and meant Lovedeath it was a beautiful and powerful aria that was essentially about Love conquering death. Isolde would sing over the body of her dead lover, Tristan.

She'd watched her lover die, but the result was quite different. Love had failed. She'd follow that up with the music from Brunnhilde's Immolation scene from another of Wagners Opera's, Gotterdamerung. Sh'd finish by listening to Madame Butterfly, the ultimate love-em and leave-em story. As she listened, she thought of calling Tori half a dozen times. Each time she looked at the phone and see that Tori hadn't called her, she found herself unable to call.

Finally, feeling exhausted, defeated, weak, angry, betrayed and alone, Jade went to bed and with a single word on her lips, "Liebestod", quickly fell into a deep sleep.

After a time, a dream formed and in this dream, Jade found herself walking into the main doors of Hollywood arts, both of which quickly shut behind her. As she took another step, Jade could see that this version was rather was run down. There were blood stains on the walls, hooks and chains hanging from the ceiling and scattered about were various instruments of torture. Normally, Jade would think this look to be rather cool but, in her present state of mind it was rather unsettling.

What there wasn't, was anyone else. Jade was alone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw she could see a female figure, half enshrouded in darkness, vanish around a corner. As she followed the figure, Jade caught a 2nd glimpse and could see part of the face of the figure as it entered Sikotwitz's classroom.

It was Tori.

"Tori" Jade shouted as she ran after Tori.

Entering the class room, which like the rest of the school, looked like a torture chamber, Jade came face to face with Tori.

Only it wasn't Tori or at least the one she knew.

It was a Cenobite Version of Tori, as if she'd stepped directly out of one of the Hellraiser movies.

This Tori was clad in all black leather, with razor blades sticking out of her skin all along her legs and arms. From the center of her chest extended a large circular sawblade and her neck was flayed open, exposing her windpipe.

Her face, was mostly unchanged, other than the fact that she had several large metal pins sticking of her cheeks. Her hair was unchanged, but was pulled back and held in place with large metal staples that were buried in her head.

"I see you arrived. Good, now we can begin."Said Tori, in a tone of voice that carried no emotion at all.

The sight of this version of Tori, made Jade physically ill in addition to disturbing her greatly.

Again Tori spoke, but a voice devoid of emotion and eyes that appeared lifeless and dead.

"My appearance disturbs you. I will note that it was you that conceptualized a Cenobite version of Tori. I merely used that concept, which fit my purpose perfectly."

"What's that?"

"You. I am your Tori now! I am for you. To show you the meaning of perfect and eternal pain."

Jade couldn't help but notice that only when the word Pain was mentioned, did Tori show even the slightest hint of emotion.

"Let me guess, you're a manifestation of my fears and anger and grief, is that it?"

The Cenobite Tori, slowly walked past Jade and briefly examined a bloodstained hook that was at the end of a long chain. "I am what I appear to be and I will take you away from Tori, forever."

"You're not my Tori. I don't want you, I don't want what you 're just a 're not real." Said Jade nervously, as she took a step back.

"If I'm not real, than why are you moving towards the door? Is it that I appear in the form of a character from a movie, like Freddy Krueger? He's a character like me and though you liked the first one, you thought he became rather cartoonish in the latter movies. Do I look like a cartoon to you?"

Her fear levels moving steadily upward, Jade moved a bit closer to the door. "No."

Tori circled behind Jade."But me. You can see me, you can hear me and." Just then, Tori briefly scraped the side of Jade's arm with her own arm. The razorblades sticking out of Tori's arm, cut a thin line into Jade's flesh, causing Jade to yelp in pain.

"You can feel my first gift of everloving pain to you. As I said, this concept suits me and my purpose perfectly and my purpose is you."

Being actually cut in a dream and feeling pain sent Jade's panic levels off the chart. Suddenly bolting from the room in terror, Jade ran as fast as she could. Looking behind her as she ran, Jade saw no signs of pursuit.

Finally, Jade reached the main doors of the school and burst through them….

Only to suddenly sit up in bed, safe in her own room, in a very cold sweat.

"Fuck! Ever-living fuck!"

Physically shaking from the very disturbing dream, Jade climbed out of bed and tried to catch her breath. As she did, she looked at the spot on her arm where Tori had cut it. Now, there was no sign of any cut or injury of any kind.

Hoping against hope, Jade picked up the phone and checked for any messages. There were none. However, there was a notification from the slap.

_"Tori Vega has changed her status from, In a Relationship with Jade West to Single."_

Suddenly Jade felt as if her heart had been ripped from her chest. First the cenobite Tori and now the real one dumps me, thought Jade. She just didn't know what to do.

After standing there for a few moments, Jade realized she had to pee. So she put the phone down and went into the bathroom.

In dim light of the nightlight that was in the bathroom, Jade sat on the toilet, wanting to simply cry. However the tears had yet to come. Her whole world in just the span of a few hours had simply fallen apart. All she could feel now was despair.

Finishing her business, Jade flushed the toilet and went about washing her hands. She then felt the need to splash some water on her face. While the water felt cool and refreshing, it did nothing to drag her out of the pit of depression she was currently falling deeper and deeper into.

A second later, she lifted up her head from the sink and looked in the mirror. To her shock, about the 90th one of this evening, Jade could see Cenobite Tori, calmly standing behind her.

"Jade, You don't honestly think that I'd let you wake up that easily."

**Poor Jade, first she freaks out after she found Tori tricked her, then she blows Tori's head off, gets told to go to hell and then finds herself in the grips of a nightmare that she only thought she'd escaped. The nightmare continues...**

**Liebestod, is actually a very wonderful and moving operatic piece. You can find it on youtube.**


	3. Nevermore

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 3 – Nevermore**

**Credit for the original idea goes to Invader Johnny.**

**No One's POV**

"Jade, you don't honestly think that I'd let you wake up that easily?"

Jade turned round, just in time to see the walls around her fade away. Again she and Tori, were standing in the torture chamber version of Sikowitz's classroom. Now she was feeling trapped as well as freaked out and utterly depressed.

"I didn't really wake up. I never left here, didn't I?"

"No. In fact I'm not going to let you wake up at all. "

"Wha? You're going to keep me here?"

"No, this is just the dream. But once I take you from it, into my reality. You'll just never wake up in your world. In the morning, you'll be found dead in your bed. I'd imagine the coroner will determine your cause of death to be a heart attack, brought on by…well that's not important. What is important is that I came for you, in a form that you envisioned and you'll be mine, for eternity."

It wasn't the fact that Tori said it without emotion that really disturbed Jade, it was that she said it in a way that almost sounded like it had already happened.

"You have no life left back there. Tori hates you, they all hate you. Only I want you." Said the Cenobite-Tori as she began to slowly walk around Jade.

In Jade's state of utter despair, she found herself half believing it. Regardless, she found herself wanting to wake up from this nightmare.

"You will wake up Jade, only you'll wake up in our world. If you love me, you'll let me mutilate you. Not that I plan to give you any choice. Give yourself to me."

Though she figured it was futile, Jade tried to run again. As soon as she moved an inch, a barbed hook at the end of a chain shot from the wall and dug deep into her leg. Then a second one into her other leg. The pain was searing and Jade let out a scream.

Cenobite Tori stopped and turned to face Jade. "You'll not run away this time. I am for you. I prefer this concept, it's so perfect. I could be for someone else, in another form, like some disgraced televangelist, who tried to have his mistress killed. But I want to be for you, in our own personal hell. Just you and me forever. Eventually, you'll be like me and you'll embrace the pain, the agony."

A tear ran down Jade's face. "No."

Cenobite-Tori then grabbed Jade's throat and squeezed hard, yet her voice remained calm. "You are never to utter that word to me. I own you, own your soul, I will mutilate you, torture you, destroy you, remake you and do it over and over, until you come to worship me and the beautiful gift of everloving pain I bestow upon you. It's inevitable. Tori hates you and her you're not under the protection of her love anymore. In fact, you're at your weakest point ever and only I am here for you. She told you, to go to hell and I'm going to take you there. Our own hell, but it will come to pass, that you will be like me. We will be one and only then, will you see it as heaven. Give in jade."

The pain from the two hooks embedded in her leg was so intense, Jade could barely think. A second later, a 3rd hook on a chain flew out and dug into her arm.

"I'm going to take you, Jade. Admit you love me. I love you. Just let me love you in my special way."

"_Nevermore"_

Jade had no idea why that word came through her head, but yet it did. It was familiar, but her mind was clouded in pain and she couldn't quite place it.

Cenobite-Tori, picked up a dusty microphone from the floor and looked at it. "She loves to sing." Cenobite-Tori squeezed it in her hand, causing he microphone to turn to dust. "Useless."

"_Nevermore"_ Came the thought again, as Jade looked the remains of the microphone.

2 more chains shot out and dug deeply into her flesh, causing Jade to scream in agony.

"I love you Jade, let me take you. Tori hates you. I love you, I am and always will be your Tori. She is a weak nothing. She never loved you."

In a moment of weakness and utter despair, Jade found herself starting to give in. Maybe Tori never really loved her, she pondered.

"Good, I see your beginning to accept my love and gift of agony. Just say you love me Jade and I will take you into our special place. One much like this."

Then another thought popped into her head_. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…" _Jade quickly realized where the word Nevermore was from. It was from the Edgar Allen Poe, Poem, The Raven. Jade loved it the very first time she read it and had memorized it when she was 8. It was the story about a man who's mourning his lost love, Lenore, when a raven flies in and lands on a bust of Pallas above his door. It then proceeds to torment him with the word Nevermore over and over again.

Hearing a noise Jade looked up to see her Tori, being sawed in half as before. Only this time, she was laughing at her.

"_Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." _Thought Jade as yet another line from The Raven Came to mind.

"You're so stupid Jade." Taunted the Tori, being sawed in half.

Through the pain, Jade found herself trying to focus on the poem. Its most famous line drifted through her head._ "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore."_

Cenobite-Tori, released Jade's throat. "You see, she mocks you. She hates you. I love you. Say you love me. Just three words Jade, I LOVE YOU. That's all you have to say. I know you like Pain. You'll come to love it."

Now another hook shot out and embedded in her neck, causing the pain to shoot to near maddening levels. Feeling her resolve falling apart, Jade started to speak.

"**I…"**

Jade turned to the Tori who was being sawed in half, only to see it fade away. Along with that sight, came another line from The Raven.

_Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!_

Tori continued speaking, though she appeared to be winning her voice remained devoid of emotion. "Good Jade, Just say it. I don't want to be for anyone else. I want to be for you, in this form. This is so perfect."

Jade could feel herself weakening further as the hooks began to actually tug at her flesh. In fact 3 more shot out and dug into her body.

"**Love…"**

"_Quoth the Raven, Nevermore."_

Looking down, Jade could see that the chains were slowly pulling her into the floor. Even in her state of near agony, she couldn't help but notice that Cenobite Tori's shadow seemed to be lengthening across her as she sank. The very last line of the poem came clear in her head.

"_And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor_

_Shall be lifted—nevermore!"_

"One more word Jade one more word, just say it. It will be perfect. I'll start by removing your scalp. You'll worship the pain, just as much as you worship me."

"I'll never see her again" Thought Jade, as she sank further. "Nevermore. I'll never get one of Tori's special cuddles, ever again. No, kisses, Nevermore. I'll never argue with her again, never make up again." It was that thought that scared her more than anything. In fact, it struck deep into her soul. Like the person in the poem, not being able to see his lover Lenore, Nevermore. Jade knew that if she said that one last word, she would never see Tori, not in this life or the next and the thought of that, pained her more than any of the hooks digging into her flesh.

"_Quoth the Raven, Nevermore"_

Half-mad from the pain, Jade suddenly screamed the word "**TORI**". She then took one of the lines from the poem and shrieked it at creature in front of her. "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!"

The calm and placid Cenobite-Tori, quickly seemed to anger.

"YOU WILL BE MINE!"

Feeling the need to fight back, Jade began to struggle. Not just physically but mentally.

"Nevermore!" Hissed Jade, at the Cenobite-Tori and then used another line from the poem. "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!"

"I WILL TAKE YOU AWAY! You will be MINE!"

The hooks quickly dug deeper into her flesh, sending the pain levels into the extreme.

"NO! I WON'T GO WITH YOU, YOU STUPID SKANK. ONLY MY TORI CAN HURT ME! YOU CAN'T HAVE ME. NEVERMORE, NEVERMORE, QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE!"

"You'll pay for that!" Snapped Cenobite-Tori, rapidly losing her cool. Not only that, her features began to distort slightly.

"Fuck you, pain freak! Game over, you lose. NEVERMORE! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

Becoming increasingly enraged. Cenobite Tori grabbed on to her, causing the razorblades to cut deeply into her flesh. "No, I must be with you, only you."

Though the pain was reaching agonizing levels and she was covered in blood, Jade fought through it, taunting the Cenobite with the words, Nevermore over and over again! It seemed to have an effect of making the Cenobite angrier by the second. In addition, the more angry it got, the more it seemed to distort into something else, as much, if not more hideous. Already, black boils, which were leaking putrid smelling, yellow puss began to form on its skin. The thing was certainly losing its cool, Jade also noticed, she had not only stopped sinking, but actually started to rise up.

"Nevermore, Quoth the raven, Nevermore."

"STOP THAT! You're supposed to be weak! I took this form for you….you're ruining it." Screamed the Cenobite-Tori, as one of its eyeballs began to melt.

"Nevermore"

"Nevermore"

"Nevermore"

On the verge of blacking out due to the pain, Jade, used the last of her strength to scream "TORI" in a manner that sounded rather like a prayer. At the same time, she pulled back as hard as she could, with all her mind, body and spirit.

The Cenobite-Tori, let out what could be described as a guttural howl as Jade felt herself begin to pull free. An instant later, the room, it's contents and the Cenobite-Tori itself all seemed to shatter into a billion pieces. The next thing Jade knew, she was flying backwards.

THUD!

Not sure where she was, Jade briefly freaked out and tried to pull the hooks from her body. But there were no hooks, no cuts and the only pain she felt, was a dull one from her back.

As her eyes adjusted and her mind began to clear, she could see the dim light from her alarm-clock/pearpod-dock above her.

1:17 AM

Knock, Knock, came the sound from the door.

"Jade" Came the voice of her father, from the other side of the door. "I heard a scream, are you ok?"

Slowly gathering her wits, Jade realized she had fallen out of bed on to her back and had woken up in her room. Looking to the door, Jade responded in a shaky voice. "I'm fine, it was only a bad dream"

"Ok"

Then there was only silence.

Lying there for a moment, Jade was still badly shaken from the nightmare. In fact she was trembling and then a moment later, burst into tears.

**Jade's POV**

I had woken from the nightmare, but it didn't take too long for me to realize that I had just woken from one and wound up in another. Tori was still angry at me, I still felt hurt and betrayed and it still very much looked like I had lost her. I was emotionally and physically drained and simply could not hold back the tears anymore.

At the moment, I felt more alone than ever had in my life.

I can't even tell you how long I sat on the floor sobbing, I think it was more than an hour. Eventually I had no more tears left. So I sat there in the darkness. I did quickly realize that I had no desire to go to sleep. I could only imagine what new nightmare would be waiting for me when I closed my eyes.

So I dressed, threw a pair of scissors in my boot and took a walk. As I left the house, I did check my phone. There were no notifications. That update from the slap where Tori changed her status to single was only part of the nightmare. But I suspected, it would come soon enough.

As I walked the dark, deserted neighborhood, I kept expecting to see Cenobite-Tori, jump out from behind one of the trees and tell me I was still dreaming. I thought I was awake earlier. Could it happen again. Nothing happened however. I was awake, alone and painfully aware of it.

I ended up walking for hours, aimlessly, feeling depressed and broken. As the eastern sky began to lighten, I found myself in a nearly empty, all night diner. I was really starting to feel fatigued and I was a bit hungry, so I ordered a coffee and a piece of pecan pie.

Even after hours of walking and sitting in the diner, I felt just as lost and even more alone than before.

I finished eating and walked home, arriving back just after 7:30 Am. I entered the kitchen to get a glass of water and found my father, reading the paper. He was dressed for golf, which wasn't too surprising.

"Sounds like you had a bad nightmare last night?"

I was so tired and sleep deprived, it took me a moment to respond. "Yes."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him put the paper down and study me for a moment.

"Problems?"

I have to admit I was surprised by the question, as my father was cold and distant. But once and awhile, he would randomly act like a normal person. I guess this is one of those times.

"Yeah, problems with Tori. I think we're broken up."

"Tell me about it, from the beginning."

My father may be cold and distant, but he's quite intelligent and analytical. If you give him a problem, he'll usually come up with some sort of solution. Feeling the need to talk about it, I sat down and told him the story in detail, from the initial haunted house planning meeting, to this morning.

He listened intently, but without comment. Finally when I finished, he sat there for a full minute, appearing to think.

"I see where you went wrong." He said, finishing a glass of Orange Juice.

"What?" I said, feeling rather annoyed by the response. "I went wrong?"

"Yes, in the initial meeting, Tori supported you, saying you can do better. She did her best to support her girlfriend. But a few minutes later, you belittle her and pretty much embarrass her in front of everyone. Now the proper thing for Tori to do, would have been to quietly pull you aside and rip your head off. But she kept it in, bottling up those feelings of hurt and resentment. That was her mistake."

"She has been distant, besides the fact she's been working on her part of the haunted house."

"That resentment grew and out of that, came a drive to really scare you. She did so and overdid it, tapping into your worst and deepest fear. Losing Tori, whom you love very deeply. A lot deeper than you thought. You found it was fake, exploded in anger and blew her head off. In her reaction, by telling you to go to hell, you really appeared to have lost her. That hit you so hard, it caused an emotional storm that once you went to sleep, created this very intense and violent nightmare. A nightmare which reflected your fear of losing Tori."

Suddenly feeling like I'd been punched in the gut, I had to fight back tears. I had been such an utter fucking bitch to her. "I don't know what to do. She hates me now"

He stood up and gave me a brief, but sympathetic look. "I know you're hurt. But I would suggest, you swallow your pride, buy a dozen roses, go over there and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. I would image she's had a rough night as well. It might actually work, that's if she ever speaks to you again."

"Oh…." Was all I could say.

I turned to look at him for further advice as to how I could make things right with Tori. This was the most fatherly he'd been in a long time, but he had already walked out of the room.

Some two hours later, I was showered, dressed and with 2 dozen roses in hand, stood in front of Tori's front door. I was also an emotional wreck, still freaked out about that nightmare and going on about 3 hours sleep. Why on earth would she want me back? It was a question I could not answer.

After standing a few moments more, trying to get up my courage, I quietly muttered "Nevermore" and proceeded to ring he door bell.

**"The Raven" Was written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1845 and is considered one of his very best works. I highly recommend it. **

**I hope you liked the chapter and again I am sorry with the difficulties I had with the previous chapter. **

**The fact that Matt Bennett and Elizabeth Gillies joined Ariana Grande on stage recently was very nice. But with that, something else may have gone unnoticed. Victoria Justice has some music coming out. Only a couple song titles are known as they were registered with one of the big music licensing companies. They are: Happy Without me, Cool and Cotton Candy Clouds. She Co-wrote all three. I'm looking forward to hearing them. **


	4. No Words

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 4 – No Words**

**Credit for the original idea goes to Invader Johnny.**

**No One's POV**

After I rang the bell, it was a full minute before I heard someone begin to turn the door knob. Just seeing that knob turn, shot my panic level through the roof.

I had no time to dwell on that, as I quickly found myself facing Tori.

She was wearing shorts and my prized Janes Addiction T-shirt, which has mysteriously vanished from my laundry basket 5 days ago. Despite all that happened in the last day, I couldn't help but think how periodically, a t-shirt would vanish from my laundry basket, only to reappear when I did laundry the following week. I think I know where they've been going.

I quickly turned attention to her face. Her hair looked like a mess, she wasn't wearing any make up, her eyes were bloodshot and she looked like she hadn't slept in a month. Still, I couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I quickly braced myself for what I expected next, which would be the door being slammed shut in my face. Much to my surprise, that didn't happen. Tori just stood there, with a weary look, studying me and my roses intently.

"I…I…came to apologize. You deserve an apology, actually several." I stammered nervously.

Holding the roses out, I tried to smile, but failed. "I got these for you."

Wordlessly, she took the flowers then slowly walked into the house, leaving the door open. I stood on the threshold for a moment, debating if I should go in.

I finally stepped in the house and closed the door behind me, still having no idea what would happen.

Tori walked past the TV, which was on, and walked into the kitchen. Still, not having saying a single word, she took two vases from a cabinet and began to fill them with water. It was obvious she was very tired as she did so rather mechanically.

The tension in the room was odd and extremely oppressive. She wanted me to come in, but yet had to utter a single word to me. Perhaps she wanted me to continue to apologize, before she decided if she wanted to talk to me.

"Vega. No, Tori. I've been a complete ass this month. I've been a terrible girlfriend. I can't even begin to apologize for how I've not respected you."

I paused for a moment to see her reaction, but she was just putting the roses in the vases and not even looking at me. That only made me more nervous, causing me to completely forget the carefully planned speech that I had been rehearsing all the way here."

I took a step forward and begun to improvise. "I had a nightmare last night Tori. This was the Mount Everest of Nightmares, it was all about me loosing…."

I suddenly stopped when she took the roses, now in vases, and walked silently past me. Not even paying attention to me, she started to walk up the stairs. Like before, she was moving slowly.

Now I was really feeling on edge. "Maybe I should leave?"

Tori paused at the top of the steps and looked at me with half annoyed, half expectant expression. She then resumed walking and vanished into the upstairs hallway.

Now I was confused as well as a nervous wreck. She wanted me to come in, she took my roses, but has yet to utter a single word to me. As I was talking, she seemed to be half listening, but sort of off in her own very tired world as well. I fully expected to not get in at all or we'd just end up in another fight. I had no plans for this type of scenario. She didn't even bother to turn off the TV.

I thought for a moment, then turned off the TV and slowly ascended the stairs. As I did, the scene in Psycho, where the detective slowly walks up the stairs only to find Mother Bates, knife in hand, waiting for him, came to mind.

Finally reaching Tori's bedroom door, I called out in a quiet voice. "Tori?"

There was no response, which really pushed my nerves to the limit. What was she going to do to me?

Not to mention I just violated one of the cardinal rules of horror films. I not only called out the name of my companion who has wandered off into a different part of the house/summer-camp/abandoned-asylum, I then followed after them.

Now this was really feeling like some sort of horror movie. I love horror as you may well know, but I've had more than my fill in the last day and my nerves couldn't handle much more. Will she bury a knife in my chest, the second I walk in her bedroom? I instantly felt guilty for thinking that, but can you blame me? I don't think I quite realized how easy it is, to start getting really paranoid when you're strung out from lack of sleep and emotional trauma.

"_Quoth the raven, Nevermore."_

Half expecting my doom, I crept in the room. It looked pretty much like it always did. The only exceptions were that there was a box of Kleenex on the floor and several tissues scattered around it. Lastly, one vase of roses sat on her desk and the other on her nightstand.

But where was Tori? I didn't see her.

No, she's behind the door and is going to bury the knife in my back. Silly me. Or will I fall victim to a good old-fashioned strangulation? Damn, I'm tired. My mind is jumping every which way.

Then I saw her.

In bed.

In my half-fried mental state, I quickly wondered how on earth, would she be able to bury a hatchet into my brain when she's asleep.

I did a quick double take and it was true. Tori had taken off her t-shirt, tossed it on the floor and simply crawled into bed.

That was odd enough, but I noticed 2 other things. First, she was lying on her side at the far side of the bed, facing the wall. Second, she had left part of the covers on the empty space on the bed open.

If there's a manual for relationships, I don't think this is covered. I found myself standing there, just staring at her. I couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep. Still, my heart jumped, seeing her like this.

Now this was getting just bizarre. She seemed to be inviting me to join her, but I felt conflicted. I had treated her pretty shitty and on some level I was pretty hurt and angry by what she did too. I looked at the door and wondered if I should leave. I even took a single step towards the door.

Unlike the Cenobite-Tori from my dream, this one I'm sure would let me leave. All I'd have do would be to walk out. But I quickly realized that if I did, I probably would never set foot in this room again. Then my worst fear really would come true. I had to make things right and I was determined to do what it took.

So, I walked to the door and instead of walking out it, quietly closed it. A few moments later, after stripping down to my underwear, I cautiously slipped into bed. Tori nether moved, nor spoke. Though I could see her breathing.

I lay there for a moment on the other side of the bed, very aware how odd this was. But she wanted me there, I couldn't deny that. My heart was pounding as I was so afraid that this was the last time, we would ever share a bed.

Going on instinct, I worked my way over and began to spoon her from behind. Much to my surprise, she pulled closer to me, yet remained silent.

"Tori I…" But as soon as I spoke, she started to pull away.

She obviously wanted me there, but there would be no talking. I just didn't know what to make of it. Only after i remained quiet for about 20 seconds, she moved back close to me.

Since I woke up from that horrible nightmare, I've been afraid to close my eyes. It's not easy for me to admit, but that's how badly that it hit me. But now, I felt safe for the first time since I've woken up. No one else could make me feel this way: no man, no woman, only Tori.

This was all too much, far too much. Right then and there, I broke down emotionally and began to quietly cry.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt Tori reach over, take my hand and pull it close to her chest.

Oh my fucking god, she still loves me. Even after the horrible things I said to her last night.

She still loves me.

Knowing that, I cried for several more minutes, before I fell into an exhausted sleep.

**A bit of a short one today, but I ended the chapter right where I wanted to. What do you think is going through Tori's mind? I hope you liked it.**


	5. Hurt

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 5 – Hurt**

**Thanks to Invader Johnny for the original idea and help with this story.**

**No One's POV**

Tori awoke just after 3 pm and though she was still rather tired, she felt much better. The first thing she did was to look over to see if Jade was there.

She could see that Jade was indeed lying next to her, a sight which initially brought relief. That however was followed soon after, by an almost crippling feeling of guilt. Remaining oblivious, Jade continued to snore lightly.

For a brief moment, Tori reached over and gently stroked Jade's hair. That moment quickly ended when Tori shifted slightly and Jade's eyes snapped open.

It quickly reminded Tori of a saying that she heard, soon after she arrived at Hollywood Arts. It went. "Jade's not mean all the time, it's only when she's awake."

For several seconds, they looked at the other, without saying anything. Each could sense, that the other wasn't quite sure where to start.

Finally Jade spoke. "Um…thanks for not shutting the door in my face."

Tori nodded. "Do you know why I didn't talk, when you arrived?"

"I think so."

Tori let out a rather forlorn sigh and sat up. However she found herself not being able to face jade, so she turned away. "You mentioned a nightmare, I had no nightmare as one needs to be able to sleep in order to have one. I was too upset and had barely slept more than an hour. When you arrived, I was exhausted, sleep deprived, angry, hurt and feeling tons of guilt. I also realized that If I opened my mouth to say anything, I would probably would have said something that I would have quickly come to regret. I've done enough damage already. Thank you for staying, I wouldn't have blamed you if you left."

"I came to apologize and I intend to stay."

"Are you sure about that? Apology, I don't deserve one." Tori said rather dejectedly. "When you yelled at me and I told you to go to hell, I was simply being defensive. But it didn't take me long to realize that I had been so determined to up the game and scare you, I didn't think about how it would….." Tori continued speaking, but lowered her head in shame. "Hurt and traumatize you. I was up crying all night. But you had a horrible nightmare, tell me about it."

Seeing Tori's current mental state, Jade demurred. "It's not important."

"No, I want to hear about it!"

"It really can wait Vega."

Knowing full well it would make her feel worse, as she felt she deserved it, Tori kept pushing it. "I want to know!"

As much as Tori insisted, Jade felt more and more, this would not help the situation. "No, maybe later."

"WHY NOT!" Tori barked, while turning her head to briefly face Jade.

It was then that Jade realized that part of her wanted to tell Tori. It was the part that was both angry and hurt. "I love her to death and it's probably not a good idea, but she's pissing me off just enough, to let her know exactly what she did to me." Thought Jade.

"Fine!"

Turning on the bed to face Jade, Tori said. "Do you remember much of it?"

For some odd reason, that question made Jade even angrier. "Much of it? I remember every last horrible second of it and probably couldn't forget it if I wanted to and I very much do! Next stupid question."

Tori hesitated for a moment, at Jade's flash of anger, but couldn't blame her for it. In fact, Tori felt that she had it coming. "Just go on and tell me, at your own pace."

Jade closed her eyes and began to collect her thoughts. She didn't want to recount for two reasons: 1st it probably wouldn't help the situation and 2nd, she really had no desire to return to that place after it too so much mental effort to escape it.

"_Nevermore"_

Clearing her throat, Jade began slowly. "It started with me walking into Hollywood arts. Only as soon as I stepped in the doors, both of which shut behind me. I could see this was a nightmare version of it…"

Jade continued the story not sparing one detail, no matter how painful it was. Jade told of the Cenobite-Tori in all her horrible form, she described the feeling of absolute despair, she described the agonizing pain and how it tried to take her into their own personal hell.

As Tori listened, she gradually lowered her head and didn't say so much as a word. It was obvious to Jade, that this story was extremely upsetting to Tori, but that didn't stop Jade. It was that part of her that wanted to repay Tori some of that suffering that kept her going.

Eventually she wrapped up the tale and told Tori how she managed to wake herself up and escape the nightmare. By that time however, Tori has begun to cry.

"Is that what you think of me?" Tori sobbed.

Before Jade could even answer, Tori wailed. "I'm a monster! I HURT YOU. I'm the worst girlfriend ever. How could you ever love me? You have every right to dump me right now!"

Already starting to regret telling her about the nightmare, Jade quickly shook her head. "No you're not!"

"Yes I am! I cried all night because I knew thought I hurt you. Now I know I did."

Jade, whose emotions were still all pretty raw, quickly snapped. "Shut up! Yes you hurt me, yes I'm angry, yes I'm pretty much traumatized, but unlike the point on top of your head, you missed the one of the story! That me loosing you, is my absolute worst fear. I never should have told about that nightmare."

The outburst quickly stopped Tori from crying, but just as swiftly, she fell into a state of depression. Tori wiped her tears and then in a low voice said. "That changes nothing. Jade, there is nothing what so ever that I can do or say, today, tomorrow or any other day, which will make up for what I did. You were right, I was cruel and sadistic. I don't deserve you! "

"One Tori only wanted to torture me and the other, only wants to torture herself." Mused Jade quietly, as she pondered her next course of action. The situation was delicate and Jade knew she had to carefully consider her next action.

"You Tori, you may not quite remember, but I've done some pretty crappy things to you."

While she was hoping for some kind of response, Jade could see that Tori was just sitting there, her head lowered.

"I pushed you off that building set, remember? If I had not been more careful, you could have missed the airbag and broke your neck."

Tori shook her head and said in barely audible tone of voice. "It's not the same."

"Doug the Diaper Guy? Me trying to ruin the Prome?"

Tori only seemed to wilt further. "How could you or anyone else love me after this?"

It was like Tori was simply fading before her eyes. It was painfully obvious, that Tori's guilt was just crushing her soul.

Jade quickly grunted as she knew she had to really pull out the big guns. "Do you know that once I tried to have you declared legally dead? It would have worked but the clerk at the records office got suspicious, cause your death certificate was missing the special stamp and was printed on the wrong kind of paper. So I just had it framed instead."

As Jade expected, that got Tori's attention. "You framed my death certificate?"

"Yes."

"I suppose you wrote an obituary for me as well!"

Jade nodded. "Yes, but the newspaper wouldn't accept your death certificate either. Too bad, because it was rather beautiful. It made Robbie Cry."

Tori, who was starting to both perplexed and somewhat annoyed, retorted. "What did I die of?"

Though she was somewhat reluctant to tell Tori this part, Jade knew it would pull Tori out of her depression rather quickly.

Jade then turned her head and mumbled. "Gonorrhea."

"WHAT! You gave me Gonorrhea?"

"No I didn't give you Gonorrhea. Let's not start any rumors please. Ryder Daniels did?"

Tori sputtered for a moment, looking rather dumfounded. "Daniels. Hey! Gonorrhea isn't even fatal."

"It was when you had it. You had contracted the rare strain called Gonorrheaus Slutorious."

The reaction from Tori was pretty much what Jade expected. After a moment where her eyes bugged out, Tori quickly fumed. "Not only did you kill me with an imaginary venereal disease, but you named it after me and called me a slut, all at the same time. "

"It's the small touches that really put it over the top, don't you think?"

"YOU BITCH!" Tori Roared.

However, Tori's anger only lasted a few moments as once again she began to cry. "First I hurt you and now I call you a bitch! Now I'm even worse."

Jade moved closer and glared at Tori with a look that was both wild and intense. It was a look that Tori only saw on Jade's face when they were the throws of passion. "You had every right to call me a bitch for that. And for the record, once I started to date you, I found myself more and more uncomfortable looking at that death certificate. So I used my dad's shredder and destroyed it. You see, what I did was cruel and deliberate and I'm glad I failed. But if someone tried to do it to you now, I'd jam a pair of scissors through their heart. Why, because I got to know you and fell in fucking love with you. Because even you didn't know about that, you knew about a lot of the other shit I did and you went out with me anyway. Let me ask you one question. DO YOU LOVE ME?"

"But I hurt you! I was the bad guy. How could you ever forgive me for that?"

"WHO IN THE FUCK CARES RIGHT NOW? Do love me?"

Tori wiped her tears and nodded. "Yes I love you."

Upon hearing that, the look on Jade's face only intensified. "You know what Vega! I do owe you an apology. Not just for embarrassing you at the haunted house planning meeting. I've taken you for granted more than once and said things that probably hurt you. I'm sorry. I really am." Now Jade felt herself tearing up. "It wasn't until that nightmare did I realize that I can't, fucking think, of living without you. You screwed up and I'm hurt and angry. I screwed up more than once and I'm sure there are times you were hurt and angry. But as I told that thing in my nightmare, only you can hurt me, no one else. Because I love you, I need you and you're more than worth it. We're both hurt and we'll probably have to spend some time working through this, but I know you wouldn't do something like this again. You made a mistake and you're human, so am I. But I will not let this break us up! You fucked up! But guess what Vega. I'M YOUR GIRL, I LOVE YOU, I ALWAYS WILL AND I DAMN WELL MEAN IT!"

Tori sat there on the bed, as Jade's rather intense declaration of love echoed through her head. As it all sank in, her mouth fell open in amazement. It didn't take long for her to cry again, but this time they were tears of Joy.

Ever so tenderly, Jade reached out and pulled the sobbing Tori into her arms and eased her back onto the bed where she held on, until Tori fell back asleep.

Before she returned to sleep herself, Jade whispered in Tori's ear. "It may not always be easy, but it will always be us…"

**Authors Note: Pretty intense, don't you think? While Jade is still hurt and traumatized, she has recognized that Tori's guilt has really crushed her spirit. It was something that she had to deal with and did so. They are not out of the woods, but they are working their way out of it, together. More story to come… **


	6. Bumps in the road

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 6 – Bumps in the road.**

**Thanks to Invader Johnny for the original idea and help with this story.**

**No One's POV**

When Jade awoke once again she found that she was alone in the bed. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she could see it was just after 5:20 in the afternoon.

As she sat up, she could hear the distant but muffled sound of a shower running off in the distance. After a few brief moments she heard it turn off.

"She's in the shower." Mumbled Jade, as she lay back down and closed her eyes to doze for a few minutes more.

Jade woke again to find Tori sitting on the bed wearing a bathrobe and brushing her still wet hair. She sat up and quickly scowled. "First you scare me, then you take a shower without giving me a chance to clean you. You're really trying to get on my bad side aren't you?"

Tori got off the bed, while cringing slightly, then walked towards her dresser. "Sorry. You were sleeping so peacefully. I didn't want to wake you."

As Tori began to go through her dresser, Jade picked up the Jane's Addiction T-Shirt off the floor. "How funny." Jade noted, with a hint of acid in her voice. The last I saw this shirt, it was sitting in my laundry basket. Yet somehow, it wound up on your floor. Not to mention that I've been noticing how t-shirts of mine, sometimes get lost in the laundry, only to reappear a week or so later. Care to explain or have my shirts developed some sort of teleportation ability…"

This time Tori, not only cringed but blushed slightly. "Um….They…They smell like you and I've found when I sleep alone, wearing one of those, helps me sleep better. It's like you're with me. Sorry."

For a moment Jade stood there, holding the shirt with a half annoyed/half touched expression on her face. Then without a word she dropped it on the floor and started towards the bathroom.

Just before Jade left the room, Tori started to say something that she thought may be funny, but when she said it, her voice ended up having rather distinct note of resignation to it. "I know you love me, despite me screwing up, but I'm guessing you're going to be the top for a while."

Without missing beat, as she left the room, Jade said. "Bingo!"

Jade returned a few minutes later and as she entered the room asked Tori. "I forget, when do we need to be there at the haunted house?"

"Sikowitz wants us there at 6:15. That would give us time to check everything, get into makeup and costumes four 7:00 PM opening time. "

"I think we're going to be a bit late."

"Do you want me to text him?"

"No, we'll just get there when we get there."

The pair, got dressed, did their make-up and fixed their hair in relative silence. It was a silence that had a slight but distinct awkward feeling to it. Jade thought about Tori's fake death and the following nightmare and Tori was still feeling horrible about the pain she had put Jade through. Each sensed that while they were on the road to recovery, they were still struggling.

They were both finally ready about 6:10 and knew it would take at least 20 minutes to get to school. They hopped in Jade's car and drove to Hollywood Arts. The car ride was even quieter than when they were getting ready.

When they were about a few blocks from school Tori, who had been looking out the car window the entire trip, said. "I'm only going to do the first part of my room. The blade will come down, stop and go back up. I'll leave out the 2nd part."

"Ok." Replied Jade rather emotionlessly

It was a few seconds later that Jade realized something. Not once in the last 45 minutes, had Tori even looked her in the eyes. That in addition to the silence was starting to bug her. So much in fact, that it brought her from thinking about the nightmare.

She briefly thought of what else to say, but Jade quickly thought of that old saying, Talk is cheap. So instead, she reached out and took Tori's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

An instant later, she felt Tori squeeze back.

Much to Jade's relief, the small gesture of affection seemed make the rest of the car ride a bit less oppressive.

"Remember Jade, we're supposed to park behind the school on the street." Said Tori, as they came to within sight of the school.

"Oh yeah, they need the school lot for the customers, thanks for reminding me."

They drove around the back and after looking a minute or two spent looking for a parking spot, they parked the car and got out.

"Ready Jade?"

With a nod, Jade took Tori's hand and walked towards the front of the school. Like the car ride, nothing was said, but the simple fact that they were holding hands made them feel more confident that things would eventually work themselves out.

Finally, they turned the corner to the front of the school and what they saw, caught them by surprise.

From the doors of the school, out into the parking lot and down the end of the block, there was a line.

"There's a line?" Said Tori as they paused.

"I'm not blind Vega, I can see the line."

"Did we have a line last year?"

"No, we never had a line. What the hell? Come on."

As they got closer to the front entrance, not only could they see the line but could sense a great deal of anticipation by those present.

As they approached, Sikowitz saw them and smiled. "Ah…Tori and Jade. You're late. But first things first, you looked a bit shaken last night Jade. Are you Ok?"

"Nothing a few years of intense therapy won't cure." Quipped Jade acidly.

Tori bristled for a moment, then turned her attention to the line. "What's with the line? It goes all the way out of the parking lot and to the end of the block."

Sikowitz pointed to the end of the block. "Go take a look."

They walked over and as soon as they reached the end of the block, they realized the line continued around the corner and further down that block.

"Jade, this is more people than we had all of last year. I don't get it."

Looking a bit confused, Jade turned to a teenage girl in line near her. "Why are you here? Why are all these people here."

The girl quickly responded, sounding rather enthusiastic. "I heard that some uber tough goth girl went through yesterday and it was so scary that her hair turned white."

Another girl nearby, quickly interjected. "I heard she had to be hospitalized cause she had a heart attack or something."

A teen boy who was also within earshot said. "No that's not right. I heard it drove her mad and then she turned around and killed her girlfriend with an axe. I want to see what she saw."

Jade turned to Tori, with a rather dangerous looking smirk "Killed her girlfriend, what a novel concept. It seems the rumor mill has gone into overdrive and now all these lemmings want to be traumatized too. Care to explain as we walk back to the entrance?"

"Um, well" Tori said sheepishly. "You had fainted and as Beck and Andre carried you out, several other students who were helping out and saw you. They knew your reputation and upon seeing that you had fainted, were rather surprised. I made sure they didn't take any pictures or film you. I then also told them to keep it quiet. But someone obviously talked."

"You don't say. We're going to have to talk about this too."

Upon reaching the entrance they could see Sikowtiz was joined by the rest of the gang.

Cat who appeared rather excited, spoke first. "Isn't it wonderful. Jade was so scared and word got out and now everyone wants to see the haunted house and we're going to make a lot of money for the food…."

"NO!" bellowed Jade.

Tori quickly shook her head and backed off. "I'm sorry, I can't to the part where it looks like I was accidently killed. It really scared Jade and hurt her. I can't do that again. I'll do the first part, but I can't do the rest. I'm really sorry."

For a few moments afterward, the gang and Sikowitz quickly started to discuss what to tell the people now that the scary part they came to see, wasn't going to happen. While that happened, Jade happened to look at a table a few feet away. The table had information about the Wells Street food bank and the needy families it supported.

After a few more moments of starring at the pictures of people receiving food. Jade walked over to Tori and put a hand on her shoulder. "Dam you for making me feel all these things, like caring for people. You're making me soft Vega. Go ahead. Just as long as I don't have to see it again."

After a quick cheer from the group, Sikowitz smiled. "Thank you Jade. I'll make sure you don't have to enter that area. There's plenty else to do. We're going to raise enough money to more than surpass our goal tonight. I've even played up the super scary angle and got a gimmick like they used to do in hold horror movies. To play it up."

"What?" Asked Jade.

"In some old films, they would have a gimmick, like people would have to sign a waiver in case they died of fright or they'd be a fake nurse on duty in the theatre lobby. Well, my brother in law is a doctor and when I saw the crowd, I called him up. He just got here. He's going to stand by the entrance, in case that someone faints or something. It's a neat gimmick that plays up the super scary angle and he's a real doctor in case someone actually does faint."

"Wow" said Tori. Is he an emergency room doctor?"

"No, he's a gynecologist"

"WHAT!" Barked Jade. "Oh that's great. We're all set, in case the haunted house gives someone a yeast infection."

Cat instantly backed way in fright from the doors of the school. "Those are icky!"

Jade pushed Cat towards the door. "Cut it out. I'm going to give you a fist infection if you don't get in there. We have less than 20 minutes to get ready. Let's go."

The gang quickly got ready and exactly at 7:00 PM, too much anticipation, the haunted house opened. Group after group went through, what at first appeared to be a normal, but pretty scary haunted house. But once they came to Tori's room, where they appeared to see her actually died, they had the crud scared out of them. And they loved it. Some people went through the house and immediately got back into line to see it again. Jade who spent part of the time at the ticket booth, couldn't help but wonder just why these dumb assholes, most of which were teenagers, wanted to be traumatized like her. Jade just put on her game face and played her part, just like any other.

Two people actually did faint, but the Doctor was quickly able to attend to them and both were fine. One of them even got back in line. That annoyed Jade to no end. It was almost like they were mocking her pain, without knowing who she was. Jade much preferred when it was her doing the mocking.

By the end of the night, they had exceeded their goal to help the food pantry. Not to mention they had one more night, which means there would be even more money would be raised.

After it ended, the first thing Tori did was find Jade.

"Are you OK Jade?"

"Fine. Did you have fun traumatizing everyone else in the county?"

Tori quickly lowered her head. "Jade I only did it, because you told me to. I wasn't going to."

Jade put a hand on Tori's shoulder. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. All that matters is that we helped the food pantry. Even if you didn't get a cut of the profits. After all it was your idea that brought them here."

"It was for charity Jade. I don't need a cut of the profits. Apology accepted. I was going to have Andre, Beck, Cat and Robbie over to celebrate with some pizza back at my place. Are you Game?"

"Sure" Said Jade with a nod.

A short while later, they had removed their costumes, make up and were back in their street clothes. They got to Tori's house, pizzas were ordered, Andre turned on the L.A. Rams football game and everyone began to relax, even Jade.

However, just before the game ended there was a brief news break, before the final minute of the game.

The female news anchor on the screen smiled and began to read the news. "Hello, this is Sharon Behlen from your KTLA News desk. In news today, The Governor said he was still undecided if he was going to sign the highway funding bill and in late breaking news, Disgraced Televangelist, Wilson McBride, who was due to stand trial in the attempted contract killing of his mistress, died in his sleep early this morning. We'll have the details of that, tomorrow's weather and highlights of Tonight's football game in just a few minutes. Back to the game. "

Jade who, was talking to Robbie, hadn't even been paying attention to the game or the news break. However the word Televangelist, instantly caught her attention.

Ignoring Robbie who was still talking, she turned her attention to the rest of the brief news blurb and watched it with rapt attention.

After it had ended, Jade stood there like a zombie, as her complexion went abruptly from its normal pale to Ghostly white.

It was Robbie who noticed this first, but had no idea what it meant. "Jade, what's wrong?"

Her response was limited to a single word.

"Nevermore!"

**I hoped you liked the chapter. We've gotten some good news. Victoria Justice has indicated on Instagram that she will be releasing new music in 2020. I look forward to hearing it.**


	7. Face your fears

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Happy Halloween Jade**

**Chapter 7 – Face your fears**

**No One's POV**

Looking as if she was in a state of shock, Jade turned away from Robbie and walked towards the refrigerator. Opening it, she looked for a beer. That was because she needed one, simply to help her come to terms with the fact that the Cenobite-Tori was not just a figment of her imagination. Though it wasn't a cenobite, it was something. Not only that, it had invaded her mind.

"No, not invaded, that's not right. Violated, yeah that's it." Thought Jade numbly as she moved a container of juice to find something to help her cope.

There was no beer unfortunately. There were however, 3 cans of wine which probably belonged to Tori's mother. Being a secret wine connoisseur, Jade would normally never even think of degrading herself by drinking wine from a can. But at the moment, she was far beyond the point of caring. Picking one up, she could see it was a chardonnay, which she quickly opened. She took one drink and could only note how it was even more revolting that she had imagined. An instant later, she proceeded to drain the entire can then toss it aside.

"Are you alright Jade?" Came a voice from next to her.

Jade quickly grabbed another can, this one a white merlot, and opened it. Only then did she turn to see who had spoken to her. It was beck.

"It was real." Said Jade just before she drained about a 3rd of the can in her now shaking hand.

"What was real?"

"That thing in my dream last night. That think that tried to take me."

"What thing?" Asked Andre. "What dream"

Not caring if the others knew, besides the fact she was in the process of falling apart, Jade walked over to the couch and began to recite the details of the dream along with the horrible creature in it. As Jade continued the story, the others remained silent and listened in horror.

Tori who had been paying for the pizzas when Jade first heard the news, came in just as Jade started the story. She wasn't at first sure why Jade had decided to tell the others about the nightmare. But Tori could tell right away, that Jade looked deeply disturbed, even more so than earlier. However, she put the pizza's down and elected to let Jade tell the story.

But while Jade told the story, Tori's attention was caught by the TV news story about the corrupt evangelist who died in his sleep. According to the story, this evangelist had a mistress who wanted to be wife #2. But when he said would not divorce his wife, the mistress threatened to go to the press. Realizing that would quickly ruin him, the evangelist, then hired a lowlife drug dealer, to kill the mistress. Unfortunately for him, the drug dealer was actually an undercover narcotics cop. He was quickly arrested but claimed he framed by the deep state.

His trial was due to start in a few days. The report said he had come home from a late-night prayer vigil at his church a little after 1 am last night, going to sleep shortly after. His wife, when she woke in the morning, found that he was dead. His cause of death has not been determined, pending an autopsy, but is suspected to be a heart attack in his sleep. There were no signs of foul play."

Tori knew that the thing in Jade's dream had made reference to just that and realized that it gave the dream a whole new and rather terrible interpretation.

"That thing was real?" Thought Tori, as she began to tremble.

As Jade finished the story, all looked to stunned to speak. Tori, who was standing took a step back as she suddenly began to panic.

"So, you're saying Jade, that it was real." Said Andre cautiously.

"YES!" Shot back Jade angrily.

Beck thought for a moment and tried to rationalize it in an attempt to calm Jade down. "The story, has been in the news. Perhaps you saw a story about his upcoming trial and just put it in your dream."

"I don't read the fucking news or watch it on TV." Ranted Jade, who now appeared to be on the verge of tears. "I'd never heard of this asshole. Besides, he came home a little after 1 am and went to sleep. I freed myself and woke up at about the same time he went to sleep. It then went after him. It Came to him in a form that both allured and terrified him. He gave into it and IT TOOK HIM, LIKE IT ALMOST TOOK ME!"

Jade at this point, screamed "Nevermore" and broke down into tears.

As Beck, Cat and Robbie, quickly moved to calm Jade, who seemed inconsolable, Andre noticed that the front door was open and Tori was gone. He quickly ran out the door after her.

He could see her running across the lawn away from the house. Sprinting after her, he quickly caught up and grabbed her arm.

"Hey Tori. Stop"

As Tori stopped and turned towards Andre, he could see a river of rears flowing down her face.

"IT'S ALL MY FAULT. IT'S ALL MY FAULT. I DID THIS. I TRAUMATIZED HER AND THEN THIS THING TRIED TO TAKE HER."

Tori then grabbed a hold of Andre and cried into his shoulder. It was obvious to him that she was completely overwhelmed with guilt and shame.

He let her cry into his shoulder a bit more then put his hand on her shoulders and took a step back.

"and your running away?"

"I..I..couldn't face her. She hates me. How could I ever face her now?" Sobbed Tori.

Andre pondered for a moment. While he wasn't completely convinced the thing was real, Tori and Jade both did and he realized he needed to be careful what he said. "OK, you really scared Jade. Then this thing invades her dream. But can you say for 100% certainty, that the two things are connected. That one caused the other."

"It has to be connected!"

"But you can't say that for certain. My grandma used to go to beauty parlor on Gallery street that she really liked. But one day after going there, she drove away and 3 blocks later she runs over a piece of metal in the street and blows out a tire. She blamed the parlor for putting it there, She thought they were getting revenge because she didn't want any of the complementary tea. She never went there again. The piece of metal, probably fell off a truck or something. It had nothing to do with the beauty parlor. But she thought they were connected and it let it affect her life"

Now looking a bit insulted as well as very upset, Tori said. "Are you saying I'm crazy like your grandmother?"

"No. I'm saying that just because you think there is a connection, doesn't mean there is one. This thing assuming it's real. You don't know anything about it, where it comes from, why it picks its victims. So, in absence of any solid knowledge of it, you cannot say with any absolute certainty what you did, caused that thing to pick Jade."

Andre could tell that Tori seemed to be accepting the argument, but knew he wasn't finished.

"Tori. Jade said that only the thought of loosing you, gave her the strength to beat that thing. If you run out on Jade tonight. Not only will Jade really lose you, which will essentially make her nightmare come true, but you will never forgive yourself and that guilt will destroy you. Even if the two things are connected, you had no possible way of knowing that would happen. Not in a million years."

Tori wiped her tears, lowered her head and said. "Oh…."

"Look. Jade fought back and didn't give up. She fought her way back to you. Yes, you did hurt her by tricking her, but you need to fight back, not against some monster, but your guilt, fear and shame. Don't let it ruin you, ruin your relationship or stop you from doing what you need to do to in order to make things right."

Tori whimpered in response. "I don't know what to say."

"How about I'm sorry and I love you. You don't really need say anything else." Andre put his arm around Tori and started to lead her back to the house. "Come on. Let's go back. I'm sure Jade is worried."

After wiping her tears and giving quiet nod, Tori let Andre lead her back towards the house.

A few moments later, Andre and Tori entered the house to see the others, still clustered around a sobbing Jade, still attempting to console her.

"Where's Tori" Murmured Jade between sobs.

"I'm right here." Replied Tori, her voice shaking.

Tori, who was barely holding herself together, watched as Jade looked up at her. The Goth's eyes were bloodshot and full of terror. Like her, long streams of tears ran down her face. Just seeing that, tore her apart inside even more than she already was. In her heart she still felt like this was all her doing. It took all the willpower she had to not turn and run right there. The feeling of shame was almost too much to bare.

Tori paused, for a moment, to gather her courage and then started to walk slowly towards Jade. As she did, Andre picked up the pizza's and covertly gestured towards the others that they should leave.

Beck moved to put his hand on Jade's shoulder, but quickly pulled it back. "Look. I don't want you to think we're bailing on you, but perhaps you two should be alone. "

"We can stay if you like." Added Robbie.

Jade who had looked away from Tori to the floor, shook her head. "You guys can go. Thank you."

Cat quickly gave Jade a hug, causing her cringe. "Call me if you need anything. Kay Kay."

Tori stopped a few feet away from Jade as the others left. On his way out, Andre smiled at Tori and whispered. "You can do it."

A few moments later, Tori could hear the door shut, indicating the pair was alone. For a long second, neither moved or spoke. An oppressive silence seemed to quickly fill the room, especially the space between them.

Tori then walked up to Jade, and knelt down in front of her. As much as she wanted to stop them, tears once again started to flow down her face.

"Jade, I am so sorry. I'm sorry for….." Pausing, she thought and mentally prepared herself for the rest of her apology. All that long list of the other things she had to apologize for. But Andre's words quickly flashed through her head.

She then looked up into Jade's eyes, as hard as it was, she managed to not look away in shame.

"Jade…..I love you." Tori said tearfully.

Having said it, Tori found herself facing her greatest fear. The fear that this silence would continue forever, that there would be nothing more to say.

Ever so slowly, Jade reached down and took Tori's hands. It was then, Tori could see the fear in Jade's eyes began to fade away.

"I love you too"

**I'm sorry I've kept you waiting, other things had taken priority of writing. I lost my job for one, due to covid. I had to find a new one and thankfully I have one now. I hope every one else is doing well. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter and as always, please let me know what you think.**

**Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) Rest in Peace. You will be missed.**


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